AKG K 1000

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by MuZo2, Oct 20, 2015.

  1. Mshenay

    Mshenay Barred from loaner program. DON'T SEND ME GEAR.

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    I'm excited to say I'm going to hear these for the first time here at a NC meet in May. Pretty excited! I'll have to share my impressions with you guys then
     
  2. elwappo99

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    I also found the K1000 to be rather uncomfortable. I remember I was super excited the time I saw a pair show up at a meet. I immediately went over and popped those on. I was unfortunately rather disappointed though. IIRC, they were pretty bland sounding and nothing stood out as impressive.
     
  3. alucart

    alucart Facebook Friend

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    A pair of AKG K1000 arrived today (S/N 10611 - apparently this corresponds to a bass lite version) - bought to see what draws people to this vintage headphone - preliminary impressions tonight from listening on the Stratus, ZDS and HP4 are as follows:

    - These are brighter than all my headphones (HD650, modded HD800, SR007 and Utopia), with some relief by angling the drivers at 45 degrees instead of closer to the ears, as well as moving the drivers slightly away from the ears,
    - From various comments, I was suspecting these older drivers to be poorly resolving compared to the modern drivers, but they aren't embarrassed by the modern rivals - clarity and resolution are quite good,
    - Macrodynamics are good, microdynamics are reasonable (the modern flagships do this better),
    - The very wide soundstage allows for great instrument separation, and while angling the drivers and moving them forward (away from the ears) can increase the soundstage depth, the soundstage is still flatter than the modern flagships - still, out of all my headphones, these offer the closest to an 'out of head' experience!
    - Bass has good speed and texture, but lacking in impact and subbass, as shown on the measurements from others above,
    - Mids are like the EX1000s - detailed, not too forward, and just the right amount of body,
    - Treble - extended and detailed, but too much if drivers placed too close to the ear,

    Comparison of amplifiers:

    - Stratus with EML mesh = a bit bright, but detailed with good soundstage layering, needs the volume cracked up to 8 or 9,
    - EAR HP4 = a bit less bright, but more traditional tube fullness helps, volume pot on 7-8 with high Z output,
    - ZDS = my favourite so far on a quick listen, with the full and slightly forward mids helping the flat soundstage, and the wide soundstage playing to the K1000 strengths, volume pot at 5-6 on high gain/impedence.
     
  4. sacredgates

    sacredgates Audio-Technica's high priest

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    Mysphere 3.1 will be for the first time officially presented at the RMAF in Denver in room 6007. I hope this new TOTL headphone will not be forgotten midst all the new stuff like Focal Clear, Klipsch Heritage HP-3, ZMF Auteur and others.
    Please SBAFriends who will be there: give this one a try and share some impressions!

    More info:
    http://mysphere.at/
    Info in German with posts by the engineers/creators:
    http://open-end-music.de/vb3/showthread.php?t=12423
     
  5. MuppetFace

    MuppetFace Sultana of Seafoam Green - Moderator

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    Ah yes, the Mysphere. A lesson for companies in not letting some overly enthusiastic fanboy consumer on head-fi unveil / become the face of your product several years before it’s ready...

    Still really eager to see what these engineers have come up with. The K1000 was interesting—even special in some instances—but ultimately a novelty for historians and collectors now.

    A few years ago QUAD Germany relaunched the Jecklin Floats. They actually kicked ass IMO. Sadly no one seemed to notice, much less care...
     
  6. sacredgates

    sacredgates Audio-Technica's high priest

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    It is impossible to deny they put a lot of thought, money, novel solutions and high tech in this one. The question is if it all adds up to a great SQ headphone in practice.
    I know they did ask some experienced headphone enthusiasts to give feedback to help arrive at the current tuning (not me...;))

    It will soon be possible to get some Myspheres as loaners for a week´s trial at home just for the shipping cost fee (don´t know if that will apply for other countries as well). I think that is admirable!
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2017
  7. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I think the most they got out of that relaunch was the Head-fi Andy meme
     
  8. 9suns

    9suns [insert unearned title here]

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    This!
    Btw, that guy also started the Abyss Diana thread and leaked info about the Focal Clear yesterday...everything terribly structured and with "lol" on it, it just hurts to read, and also makes companies with serious projects look sloppy and unprofessional...I don't get how someone who invested 6 figures on something says what time it is or hello to someone like him, let alone confidential information.
     
  9. MuppetFace

    MuppetFace Sultana of Seafoam Green - Moderator

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    Yeah... this fellow gets around from what I’ve seen. I feel like 9 times out of 10 the manufacturer didn’t seem to plan for him to leak the info anyway. Like with the Diana. He ends up hurting the manufacturer because:

    1. As you said, the association with his unprofessional demeanor isn’t a good one in ppl’s minds.
    2. The manufacturer isn’t ready, and ppl wonder why the product is so “delayed” when it wasn’t even supposed to be given a release date yet.
    3. Over sharing of info. Actually giving stuff that’s supposed to be under wraps to rival parties.

    If you’re a manufacturer and see this goofball.... just get security.
     
  10. Scubadude

    Scubadude Almost "Made"

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    Not exactly flavour of the month but I still enjoy my K1000 (bass light) from time to time. Not as a daily driver, but every now and again I get a big grin when I hear the startling realism the K1000 is capable of producing.

    Pairing with ordinary headphone amps is not recommended as they have very low sensitivity. One exception here is the Matrix HPA-3B, which does a sterling job of driving the K1000. After a custom 6EA7 OTL SET the Matrix is the second best I have heard these.
     
  11. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    My Mysphere 3.2 impressions as a former K1000 owner (not sure if it's taboo to link to Head Fi, but it's the only place I have this review posted right now).

    https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/mysphere-3.23455/

    TLDR is that there's lots of things to like about the Mysphere 3.2's if you can find the right amp, but the product does have some growing pains. Possibly the best midrange on any pair of headphones with a extremely large soundstage.
     
  12. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    [​IMG]

    I've had a pair of K1000's (on a long-term loan from a friend) in the house for a week now and it's surprising how well they've held up. I bought a pair about a decade ago and eventually sold them a few years later because I felt that it was too much to deal with. That's even more true these days since they are pushing on the 3 decade mark.

    Having said that, listening to them again on a strong 2ch system after a couple years (the last time I tried a pair was in 2015) makes me think that for less than $1,000, these are still kind of a steal - the only things that haven't aged gracefully is the resolution and bass extension. Otherwise, the K1000 is absolutely competitive with something like the HE6/OG 1266 on a good speaker amp. And if you like the "ear mounted speaker" thing, the K1000 is still by far the cheapest way to experience it.

    That said, they are meant to be driven close to the edge and repairs are nearly impossible these days. If a driver blows out you're 100% out of luck. And the Mysphere, despite being 3x as expensive, basically takes everything good about the K1000's and modernizes it and gives you a warranty.

    As an owner of the Mysphere 3.2, I'm not particularly tempted by it. But otherwise it would be pretty hard to resist the urge of buying one.
     
  13. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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    Why didn't you discuss the shortcomings of the K1000? I agree it's amazing and in some areas better than any modern headphone but it also has areas where any modern headphone does better.
    - severe sub bass roll off
    - mount beyer spike if amp is not matched perfectly
    - lack of microdetail, most detail is in big clumps rather than small proportioned well distributed packages.
     
  14. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    I did mention 1 and 3 in the "not aged gracefully part". The treble spike TBH doesn't both me and most amps involve some amount of rolloff at those frequencies. I don't think I noticed much of it on the Nagra INT, but maybe it's just me being not particularly sensitive to treble energy.
     
  15. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

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    Hopefully this is OK to ask.
    What's a reasonable price for K1000's these days?
    Or is this too general a question, and it really depends on the pair in question?
     
  16. Zhanming057

    Zhanming057 Friend

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    There is no sound way to distinguish between the "bass heavy" (fundamental resonant frequency = 50hz) or the "bass light" version (60 or 70 hz depending on production time) without testing the actual cans. Very generally, 6,000 and below are more likely to be bass heavy but the headphones are so old now that there's no way to verify whether they've been serviced or had the drivers replaced, unless you actually take measurements.

    The bass heavy version commands a premium. For a super immaculate, boxed bass heavy copy with the original speaker amp adapter and original cable, I would go up to $1,500 or so. More realistically, I wouldn't pay more than $1,000 or so for a clean (8.5/9 out of 10), bass light version.

    I should mention that as long as the drivers and chassis are in good condition, the internal tuning material can still be serviced and replaced by Heinz Renner, the K1000 designer, personally. A general fault point is internal foam and glue decomposing over time, and that is something that can be remedied (fairly) easily.
     
  17. Rodeodave

    Rodeodave New

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    Do any of you have experience with powering the K1000 with the First Watt F1J current source amplifier?

    Edit:
    To expand on my question:

    [​IMG]

    This is my current setup with an F1J, and I'd like to know if what I'm hearing is real or if I'm just imagining things. It's a winning combo.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2019
  18. Aurastys

    Aurastys New

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    I've heard very good things from people who own F1J or F6 and running it with the K1000 (especially the BN). I find that with the First Watt amps, it really gets a spookily "there" sounding edge to the soundstage, where things become a little less ethereal and a bit more tactile, but, it squashes the depth and makes the upper treble just a little too glary for me. That's just my personal opinion though.

    I've had wonderful luck running my few pairs of these on SET amps like the DNA Stratus 2A3 amp (that Donald designed just for these after reading about them online, actually), cascade FET amps like the DC linear Mitsubishi amps (DA-A10DC is my pick of the litter but only for it's extremely robust build and easy modding ability), and the lower power Krell amps.

    Overall, I think this headphone gets a lot less credit than it deserves. The presentation is truly spectacular, though the tonality on most setups can be kind of lacking, especially in the sub-bass region. I keep a Lambda SR-404 LE around for when I want tonally correct, but my K1000 gets much more head time.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2019

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